1 242 CANDID REMARKS: May But, though the unbigotted Layman of it. Neither is this inconfiftent with is not yet convinced by my fincere the obfervation of the author of the endeavours for this ufeful purpose, Confeffional, that few of the common yet he has my thanks and acknow- people form any ideas of the trinity: Few ledgments for the chriftian manner in this paffage must be taken in the in which he writes; and likewife for comparative fenfe with refpect to the the candid conceffion he has made, whole body of the common people, of that our public creeds fhould be whom it cannot be expected that they purely fcriptural, as well in their terms fhould form any rational ideas of the as ideas, and withes that the Athana- Trinity, unless they are particularly fian creed was not used in our churches, inftructed, as their attention upon as being unfcriptural. I am inclined this fubject is generally confined to the to believe, that every unbigotted Lay- Athanafian forms, eftablished by pubman of the Church of England, who lic authority, the grand fupport of all has examined this point, is of the religious errors and corruptions. fame opinion, though he may think it poffible to deduce the doctrine of it from fcripture. I would just mention another parti cular in this candid letter of the unbigotted Layman; in the beginning of it he fairly acknowledges, that there are many things touched upon in my letter to him, and enlarged on in the Appeal, which are beyond his purpose, and which he leaves to the difcuffion of the learned. In other terms he has profeffed that he has not answered my letter, or Appeal. Upon the whole it plainly appears from this impartial review of the controversy, as it stands in your Magazine, that the Appeal ftill remains upon the ftrong foundation of fcripture interpreted by common fenfe: And instead of returning the language of contempt with which Mr. A. B. treats the author of it, I would only recommend it to his ferious thoughts, to be more careful for time to come how he advances fuch confident affertions, without having maturely weighed the whole cafe with an impartial judgment. With respect to the remaining part of the letter of Mr. A. B, his animadverfions upon the ingenious author of the Confeffional fhew little elfe but a difpofition to find fault with flight inaccuracies, and which are below the notice of fo able a writer. I would only observe with regard to the fact relating to the offence given to many congregations by the reading of the Athanafian Creed, that this is ftrictly true, it being no uncommon cafe for several to fit down, whilst the minister is reading this unfcriptural and irrational creed: Even feveral of the common people who are Bereans, begin to express their diflike at the reading I cannot indeed reflect without a ferious concern on the religious state of the common people with regard to their Almighty Creator, whom they may perpetually fee by his glorious works, and the revelation of his will by Mofes and the prophets, by Chrift and his apoftles. But as they are not generally difpofed to exercise their rational faculties upon this important fubject, they have been liable to grofs impofitions in almoft all ages and countries. Eftablished fuperftition and idolatry have too generally overclouded the brightest evidence of reafon and the golpel itfelf, clearly pointing out one fupreme God and Merciful Father of all rational creatures; fo that mankind have groped in the dark, though furrounded with the glorious light of the works and word of God. We have no occafion to have recourfe to the heathen world to be informed of the abominable fuperftition and idolatry, to which the bulk of the common people have been, and ftill are devoted: The grofs corruptions of popery in the kingdoms around us, will furnish us with inftances of it. Let any one but read the account of the great eruption of Mount Vefuvius, the 19th of October, 1767, in a letter from the Hon. William Hamilton, envoy extraordinary and minifter plenipotentiary of our king, to the king of the two Sicilies, inferted in your Magazine, for the last month: And he will be prefented with fuch a difmal fcene of abominable fuperftition and grofs palpable idoIntry, as would seem incredible even in a popish country, if it had not beea attefted by this refpectable authority. (See p. 104) I fuppole by the account that St. Januarius and Genaniel 1768. Mr. Robertfon commended. MAGAZINE. 243 lo are the faint protectors of Naples To the AUTHOR of the LONDON Tis matter of real concern to find grave divines of this proteftant country employing this impious principle, viz. public authority, to defeat the truly chriftian propofals of the worthy author of the Confeffional. I cannot help judging, that an attempt to remove the prefent burden of fubfcription in these days of light and free enquiry, deferves the thanks of all real proteftants. The cafe of Mr. Robertfon a glorious confeffor, of whom we have lately heard, though a private individual, demonftrates the neceflity, the abfolute neceffity of purfuing the cause recommended not only by the Confeffional, but feveral other treatifes up on the fame general plan, more elpecially the Free and Candid difquifitions. A church that by her fubfcriptions and offices excludes a perfon of Mr. Ro. bertfon's character from the public miniftry, certainly wants a review. He feems by his excellent attempt to explain the Words, Reafon, Subftance, Perfon, &c. to have entered into the genuine fpirit of chriftianity, and to have gained noble and exalted fentiments of the One God and Father of all, and the rational duties we owe to him, our fellow creatures and our felves, free from human mixtures and corruptions: In a word, he has itudied the fcriptures to a very useful purpose, as he fees the religion of Chrift in its original and beautiful fimplicity; but above all, he has demonftrated his fincere attachment to the cause of truth and virtue by tak ing up the cross of Chrift, and glorioutly facrificing his worldly intereft, though preffed with a family unprovided for, to the favour of God and peace of conscience. I heartily with it was in my power to do him any real service as a token of my cordial affection for this christian brother, -whofe perfon I never faw, nor ever held a correfpondence with him, whose name I never knew till his honest and chriftian letter appeared in the Monthly Review, and your Maga Leigh, March 31, 1768. Shocking it is furely to fee in the Thus we read above eight thousand die under two years of age, and above two thousand more between two and five, annually, in and about London Let us try then, if we can by our Among many leffer, and accidental, the great carele ffnefs and cruelties of To mention only the chief, as our bodies, and limbs, as foon as born, so ture ever intended them. Hence fo zine. I am, Sir, Your conftant reader Hh 2 T. H 244 Caufes of and Remedy for To remedy this forrow, drefs them only with a flannel waistcoat, without fleeves, to tie loosely behind with a hort petticoat fewed thereto, and over all a loofe gown. Let the faftening be with loops or ftrings, without pins, which often prick the infant, and caufe fhrieks, the cause of which the ftupid nurfe is feldom cunning enough to discover. In fhort, the drefs fhould be fo fimple as to be flipt eafily off and on, without teazing the babe to extreme crying, often the cause of ruptures. Nor fhould even its head be preffed by the hand, and then bound up, but let only a loofe cap be worn, and leave nature to her own work, who needs no fuch over officious nurfes to affift her therein; much less does he want fwaths, ftays, bandages, rollers, and fuch trumpery contrivances, that are most ridiculoufly, nay most cruelly, ufed to clofe up the head, and keep it in its place, and to comprefs and fupport the body, as if nature, exact and wife nature, had produced her chief and most excellent work, a human creature fo carelessly unfinished, as to need thofe idle aids of nurses to render it perfect. How did it do before it was born, when it lay at liberty in its mother's belly? fo let it be free after it has come forth into this wide world. They should lie likewife in a loose Aannel at nights, to defend their bodies from the air; be feldom or never rocked; nor kept too clofe nor hot; their bodies should be rubbed all over, head and all, gently, every morning with a warm cloth, or flesh brush, and be kept dry. This regimen fhould be continued 'till three years old. 2. The next cause of children's untimely death is the improper food they are generally crambed with: As thick water pap, butter, fugar, oil, panada, caudle, and fuch like indigeftible ftuff. Thefe corrupt, breed wind, caufe cholicks, and convulfions; of which Jaft difeafe alone four or five thousand generally die yearly at London; where as half their diet fhould be thin, light broths, with a little well baked bread, bifcuit, or rice in it. In short, their diet cannot well be too thin. They fhould not be fed above four times in twenty-four hours, and never in the night, only give them a little milk and water. It is wrong to use them to fo May bad a cuftom, as to feed them till they throw it up again; if not used to it, they will not expect it. Pap, as it is commonly made, is at beft but a fpecies of glew, fit to plafter the infide of the guts, and obftruct the lacteals; nor make them fwallow their victuals while lying on their backs; it is an unnatural pofture, and fuch as you would not like yourself; but they fhould be fed in a fitting posture, as before birth, that they may fwallow their food the easier, and with a better guft. If costive, use magnesia alba, or crude tartar, freely in their victuals; if convulfed, give fperma cœti with fome powder of anifeeds rubbed with white fugar candy, often. 3. Another caufe of their furprizing mortality is the letting them lie atleep, or awake, fitting or running about, uncovered, or in their wet cloaths, fo careless are fome unthinking mothers and nurses, who pretend thus to bring them up hardy, as if quite void of common sense; whereas nothing can be more hurtful to health, as it stops perfpiration, fouls the blood, and caufes agues and fwelled fpleens, and lays the foundation of certain and premature death; while they little confider the weighty duty, and the folemn account they must one day give of this their great charge and office. Surely the dumb beaft is in fuch a cafe much better off than thefe pretty heirs of eternity: Out of fixteen children by fuch, and other wicked ways, I myself have loft all but five. 4. The 4th chief caufe of the death of many innocent Infants is that wicked cuftom of forcing opiates, especially dif cordium down their throats, to compel them to lie quiet, while the lazy nurse may fleep and forget them. This untucky compofition of the shops, by coming under the knowledge of nurses, has certainly done much more hurt than good. I am of Dr. James's opinion, it is a filly medicine at beft, and it is a pity it is not expunged the dif penfatory, that any further mischief from it might be thereby prevented, If opiates are needed, nothing stronger than julap of camphor, or a folution of afla foetida fhould be used. I loft one boy only by eight drops of liquid laudanum; the baker killed another with his allum bread, and the nurse murdered a daughter by fetting her before 1768. It is very wholesome to dip the babies, now and then, in a tub of water, abating the coldness thereof at first, by adding fome hot, and fo diminish the quantity of the warm water gradually, till at laft it may be left quite out; by this and friction their folids will be fo well ftrengthened, that they will run alone in a few months time. Doubt not then, but by obferving these few and easy rules, that the precious lives of many babies may be happily preferved, and the number of adults be daily augmented, to the increafed population of thefe three nations. But cuftom is a tyrant, and therefore it will be difficult to prevail with many to follow thefe directions; nevertheless, as there are feveral good fenfible mothers in the land I despair not, but they will be well pleased to be informed of their mistakes, and moft readily correct their errors, and thereby render me a happy inftrument in preferving many a child's life. Laft of all, when about two years old inoculate them with the meafles, and fome time after for the fmall pox, allowing them no strong liquors of any kind till they are grown up to be youths. and charge of providing for a family of little ones, fo that by computation there is but one woman in fix, who breed yearly; whereas, if thofe others that could breed were all married, very likely, four of fix would bring us a baby every year. For which reafon to promote population, much wanted at this time (the wars having carried off many, and the dearness of provifions half starved many more) for the honour of the belt of kings, whose ftrength and glory confists in the number of his fubjects: I lately published my book on Generation, to put young men in mind of their duty lawfully to obey nature's call, and answer one of the great ends here of their creation: no laws fhould be made against that holy ordinance; all uncleannels fhould be punished; old batchelors taxed, and thofe who get more children than ordinary should be encouraged by a public affiftance, to bring up their issue: As was done by the law of Jus Trium Liberorum of the Romans. The present care, and provision, for poor parish children is excellent, and pity it is that our foldiers, and other military men, to be rendered ufeful in a double capacity, are not enduced to marry and beget a fucceffion of fuch for their king, and country, by their little ones being brought up at the public charge, as the fpurious breed charitably is in the Foundling hofpital. Since life is fo fhort and uncertain, how unjustly do we repine at the shortnefs of our own, to think ourselves wronged if we attain not to old age, whereas it appears by nice calculation, that one half of thofe that are born are dead within feventeen years, and that the thirtieth perfon dies yearly all over the world: So that instead of murmuring at what we call an untimely death, we ought to account it a bleffing that we have furvived, perhaps many years, that period of life, whereat the one half of the whole race of mankind does not arrive. Since the cafe is fa, how needful is marriage to keep up the race of mankind, the growth and increase of whom is not fo much tinted by any thing in the nature of the fpecies, as it is from arbitrary rules, and the cautious difficulty molt people make to adventure on the state of matrimony, from the dull profpect of the trouble, Your's JOHN COOK. To the Gentleman who figns Milo-Baska SIR, I TH nos. T has been often obferved, that the worst caufe produceth the greatest outcry; and, indeed, you be gin with fo much clamour, that every man of common fenfe and obfervation will, after reading a few lines of your letter, be apt to fufpect you are in the wrong from one end of it to the other. For what but the being told ungrateful truths could excite fuch a tumult in your breaft? Gladly should I be informed what excuse you can make for fo much anger, and why it is criminal in ine to take the fame freedom with the Appeal and Confeffional, which the authors of these books have taken with our liturgy, and the writings 246 ANSWER TO writings of the Irifb champion. In the name of juftice, what claim have thefe writers to an exemption from criticifm? I have with fome attention turned over the Appeal and Confelfional, and cannot, for my life, difcover any right their authors have to reverence from us, or perceive any reafon which ought to induce a man, at their approach, to cry out tum, Hic quifquam veto faxit ole Pinge duos angues. Pueri, facer eft lo cus, extra Mejite― In my letter, publifhed in the Mag. for February laft, I have afferted that the Appeal bath been proved to be a paltry piece of impertinence, and its author a conceited weak man, and for the truth of thefe affertions I bave appealed to every competent judge. You, Sir, in your letter have afferted that the Appeal never has been, nor ever will be confuted. Alas! Sir, what can your opinion avail? I have appealed to competent judges; but I neither can nor will allow you to be a competent judge till you have proved yourself fuch. I am convinced by your letter that you have no judgment at all. Moved by the hope of making the author of the Confeffional a little humble, and of convincing him that he is not qualified for the work he would fain undertake, viz. the reformation of our liturgy, I have taken the liberty of laying before him a few of thofe inaccuracies with which his book abounds: and, in the first place, have remarked the following paffage as a grofs blunder. "When this was written, faith the author of the Confeffional, I did not know of Dr. Macdonel's answer to the Appeal, much lefs of the appellant's replication;" upon which I told the author of the Confeffional that it is to me inconceivable how he could know much lefs of one thing than of another thing of which he knew nothing. You, Sir, have the affurance and ignorance to fay this is very properly exprefled, and, to prove the truth of what you fay, produce fome texts from fcripture which you think fimilar. The filt is from Sam. xxii, 15. For thy leivant knew nothing of all this, May less or more. Alas, these words of Abimelech make nothing for you, they amount to no more than that he did not know any thing of all this, lefs or more, or, as we might at this day exprefs it, little or much. So when Abigail found her husband drunk, she told him nothing less or more, until the morning light, i. e. fhe did not tell him any thing, little or much, until the morning light. Your laft quotation from fcripture requires another anfwer. In If. xl. 17. all nations are faid to be accounted less than nothing and vanity. I answer first, that it feems an uncouth way of vindicating a modern phrafe, by faying it refembles a literal tranflation from a dead language. Secondly, The word nothing has in your quotation a very different sense to what it bears when used by me; in the paffage quoted from fcripture it fignifies the abfence or privation of all things. But when I tell the author of the Confeffional that I cannot conceive how he can know much less of one thing than of another of which he knows nothing, my meaning is, that I cannot conceive how he can know much less of one thing than of another of which he is entirely ignorant. Thirdly, the words, knows nothing, are not the words of the author of the Confeffional, but mine. Be pleased therefore to vindicate the fentiment as it is expreffed in the Confeffional : or be pleafed to fhew how a man can know much lefs of one thing than of another of which he is utterly ignorant. I answer lastly, that in your quotation from fcripture the nations are faid to be accounted less than nothing, they are not faid to be accounted much less than nothing. From whence it is evident that the expreffion you attempt to juftify, by much exceeds the oriental Hyporbole by you brought to justify it. From what has been faid it is, I truft fufficiently clear, that you, Sir, who advife me to be a little better acquainted with the use of language, before I put on the haughty airs of a fevere critic, are yourself a perfect Ignoramus. The next paffage cenfured by me is this, viz. do not prejudice them beforehand. Here is, you confefs, an inaccuracy; but an inaccuracy, fay you, * Dr. Macdonel, a learned Irish gentleman who answered the Confeffional, and who is jeeringly called the Irish Champion by the facetious author of the Confeffional. See Confefs. f. 360, 2d edit. of |